Xmas Brunch
by klutz101
Summary: What if Roger had accepted Mimi’s invitation to Xmas Brunch? won first at speedrent


Title: Xmas Brunch  
Author: Lindsey  
Feedback: much appreciated!  
Pairing: Roger/Mimi, implied Collins/Angel, Mark  
Word Count: 1724  
Rating: PG-13  
Genre: Fluff/Drama/What if?  
Summary: What if Roger had accepted Mimi's invitation to Xmas Brunch?  
Notes: won first at speed rent. Takes place right before Today 4 U and ends at the beginning of Tango: Maureen. May seem a little rushed, but hey, I had to have this finished by 11:59 PM  
Special Thanks: Jonathon Larson  
Spoilers: Light My Candle, Roger and Mark's discussion about the Xmas Brunch message on the window  
Warnings: little bit of language  
Disclaimer: only in my dreams…

"What's that?" Mark asked, following Roger towards the cold, foggy window. As they came closer to the window, Mark could make out the message: _Xmas Brunch. Just us? Mimi_. Mark turned to face Roger, wanting to see the older man's reaction, but only seeing a huge smile upon the guitarist's face. Mark couldn't help but smile too.

"The girl downstairs…" Roger trailed off, staring at the message.

"Oh, the dancer from the Cat Scratch Club?" Mark asked. Roger just nodded, still grinning from ear to ear. "Well, you are going right?"

For the first time, Roger looked away from the window and looked at Mark. "No," Roger replied stubbornly.

"Oh, come on, Roger."

"No," he said again. Roger walked away from the window, making his way to the couch.

"Would it kill you to just go downstairs and talk to her? It's obvious she's interested in you."

"Yeah, well, I'm not interested in her."

Mark scoffed and shook his head. "I honestly doubt that." He sat down next to Roger on the couch. "It's just a harmless little brunch with a beautiful girl."

Roger stared at Mark. "I don't know."

"Come on, Rog…what's the worst that could happen? You get laid?"

Roger sighed, looking at the message on the window again. "Fine, I'll go."

x-x-x

Mimi, dressed in her sexiest outfit, set two plates on her small, wooden table. Earlier this morning, she had tried miserably to cook a nice meal. It had resulted in badly burnt scrambled eggs and four pieces of charred toast. Hopefully, Roger would be there soon.

"Mimi-chica, open up!" she heard her best friend Angel shout from the other side of the closed door. "I have something for you!"

Mimi excitedly walked over to the door and opened it. "Hey, Angel!" she greeted, staring at her best friend who was wearing Santa drag. A tall man stood beside her.

"This is Collins," Angel said, introducing the man next to her. "Collins, this is Mimi. He'll be joining us for this afternoon's Life Support meeting.

"Oh, cool. Nice to meet you, Collins."

He nodded, shaking her hand. "Nice to meet you, too."

"So," Angel giggled girlishly, "how did everything with the hot guy go?"

"Okay," Mimi replied coolly. "I did everything you told me to do."

"Details, Mimi, details!"

Mimi smiled and grabbed Angel's hand, leading her to the couch. They both sat down, Collins standing behind Angel. "Well, as soon as I got up there he immediately started to check me out. I caught him once staring at my ass and when I confronted him, he kept stumbling over his words. It was too cute!"

"I'm guessing it went well?"

Mimi nodded. "His name's Roger. Though he did tell me I looked like his dead girlfriend, Ashley or Amanda or…"

"April?" Collins interrupted.

Mimi looked at him in shock. "Yeah…how did you know that?" Mimi asked curiously.

"I'm one of Roger's best friends. I used to be his roommate seven or eight months ago."

"Really?" Angel asked him.

"Yeah." Collins looked over at Mimi. "You know, Angel and I were just going to visit him and Mark. You should come."

Mimi shook her head. "No, that's okay. I don't want to intrude. Plus, Roger should be coming down here anytime now. I invited him to a little Christmas Brunch," Mimi replied.

"I'm not trying to be mean or anything, but I wouldn't get your hopes up," Collins said, trying to be as nice as possible.

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing really, it's just ever since his girlfriend died he hasn't left the loft. Mark's been trying to get him out for months. The only time he would leave was to go to either the doctors or the Cat Scratch Club."

Mimi smiled. "I work there, you know."

"Really?" Collins asked, intrigued. "Does he know that?"

"Roger?" Mimi asked and Collins nodded. "Yeah."

The teacher laughed. "Then disregard my comment about him not showing up."

x-x-x

As Roger exited the loft he began to feel nervous and was having second thoughts. By the time he realized that this Christmas Brunch was a big mistake, he was already standing outside of Mimi's door.

Roger was about to turn around and head back up stairs when the door opened, revealing his friend, Tom Collins, who he hadn't seen in months.

"Collins! What are you doing here?" Roger asked, not believing Collins was back in New York.

"Hello to you, too," the African American man replied and the two embraced in a short, manly hug. "You made a good decision," Collins said when the hug ended. "Mimi seems like a nice girl."

"How do you know Mimi?"

Collins waved off the question and moved closer to Roger. "I don't, but man, if you would've told us all we needed to do to get you out of the loft was some young Cat Scratch dancer, Mark and I would've hired her a long time ago," he whispered in Roger's ear.

"It's not like that."

"Sure it's not," Collins answered, smiling.

"Jackass."

"Hey! Watch the language in front of the lady!" Collins said as a woman came out of Mimi's apartment and grabbed Collins's hand. "Roger, this is Angel."

"Hi," Roger said nonchalantly, giving a short wave.

"Hi, sweetie." Angel turned to Collins. "We should be going, if you want to make it to the life support meeting on time and still visit your friend, Mark."

"Yeah, okay. See ya around, Roger," Collins said before Angel and he made their way upstairs.

Roger waved good-bye and turned back around in time to see Mimi come to the door. "I didn't think you'd come. As a matter of fact, Collins didn't think."

"Well, here I am."

"So, do you want to come in and eat some of that brunch? All though I have to warn you, I'm a terrible cook."

"Trust me, I'm worse than you," Roger commented as he made his way into her apartment, sitting down at the table when Mimi told him to a few seconds later.

"Voila!" Mimi said, setting a plate before Roger that consisted of burnt eggs, charred toast, and an apple.

"Woah."

"I told you I was a bad cook."

"Then why did you invite me over for brunch?"

"A few days ago, you're friend, Mark, told me the only way to get you out of the house was to tempt you either with food or sex," Mimi said pouring two glasses of orange juice.

"Why didn't you try the 'sex' part," Roger wondered with curiosity.

"I don't sleep with someone without even knowing their last name."

"And yet, you work at the Cat Scratch Club," Roger said, not meaning to say that aloud.

Mimi set the glass of orange juice forcefully on the table. "Like I told you last night, it's a living," the dancer said, bitterly.

"Sorry," Roger squeaked. "Sometimes I say things without thinking."

"Whatever," Mimi answered, stabbing at her eggs with a fork.

"So," Roger said, trying to start a conversation instead of sitting in an awkward silence, "do you like working at the Cat Scratch?"

Mimi shrugged. "It pays the bills."

"But do you like it there?"

"No," Mimi answered truthfully. "When I was younger I imagined myself professionally dancing. You know, back-up dancing or something on Broadway."

"Those dreams are still possible. You're only 19, right?"

"Yeah, but who would want to hire a heroin addict stripper?" Mimi countered.

"I don't know, but why wouldn't they want to hire a young, beautiful, talented dancer?"

Mimi blushed. "I remember seeing you at the club and I started to worry when I didn't see you for months."

"Yeah, well something happened."

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," Mimi said, placing her hand on top of Roger's.

"Thanks," Roger said, staring into Mimi's eyes. "You have gorgeous eyes," Roger commented, his hand stroking her cheek as he leaned across the small table.

Mimi glanced down at her lap for a fraction of a second. "Yours aren't so bad, either."

Roger noticed that his and Mimi's face were becoming closer and closer with every breath he took. She was close enough that he could count every freckle on her face. Unable to keep the distance apart, Roger slowly kissed Mimi's pale, pink lips.

The chaste kiss lasted only about a millisecond, but Mimi thought it was the sweetest kiss she had ever received.

"I am so, so sorry; I shouldn't have done that," Roger began saying, obviously flustered.

"No, Roger's its—"

"No, no…I-I'm sorry. I don't know what got into me," Roger jumped out of his chair. "I should go."

"No, Roger, seriously, its okay. I honestly didn't mind that you—"

Roger cut her off. "Mimi, you're a really nice girl. Really, you are. It's just…I'm just not ready to date yet. I'm not even over my last girlfriend."

Mimi followed Roger as he walked towards the door. "Well, when will you be ready? Because I am not giving up on what we could be," Mimi stated stubbornly, forcing Roger to face her. "When?"

"I don't know, Mimi," Roger barely whispered.

"Just make up your mind soon," Mimi pleaded. "Okay?" Roger nodded his head without even trying. Mimi frowned disappointedly, but she still stood on her tippy toes and kissed Roger squarely on the mouth.

She kissed him with so much passion, Roger had to lean against the door to keep from falling down. Mimi's tongue licked along Roger's bottom lip, egging to be let inside. Roger quickly obliged only to push her away, seconds later. Mimi stumbled backwards, hitting an end table that was close by; the corner of the table painfully pinched the back of her thigh.

Mimi stared at him in shock, not believing that Roger had just pushed her across the room. "What the hell?"

"I, I'm sorry," Roger said, flustered again. "Please, just leave me alone." Roger then bolted out of Mimi's apartment.

Mimi yelled at the door, frustrated by the situation. She kicked her door, slamming it closed. Mimi leaned against her door, allowing her whole body to fall as gravity took over. Mimi looked down at her fingers, having just felt a small, sharp pain. She realized she had just broken a nail.

She was so not giving up on Roger now.

x-x-x

REVIEW PLEASE!


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